Forever
by M. Pond
Summary: The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return." But what happens after that? When you lose that love? Can you ever recover? That is the question that Ronnie and Jack have to ask themselves.
1. Ruining It All

Ronnie murmured into her pillow as she slowly began to wake up. She had buried her head deep within the pillows in a desperate attempt to stay asleep for a little bit longer. Sadly though, her brain was not falling for her trick and she slowly began to force herself awake. As she rolled over, squinting at the light that was shining into the bedroom, she frowned as she stared at the unfamiliar room. Okay unfamiliar was the wrong word but it wasn't the bedroom that she'd woken up in over the past couple of weeks.

She sat up slightly and waited for her brain to unscramble itself as she gazed around the room. It was Jack's bedroom, she knew that much. She'd spent enough time in it when they'd been together and when she'd lived here herself. But why was she in Jack's room? Her black dress from last night was lying on the floor along with her shoes. A memory of her collapsing on the sofa in the office in an attempt to relive the aching pain in her feet from the shoes flashed into her mind. Yeah that was right, she'd been in the club last night – some function for some city bankers who surprisingly actually had something to celebrate. But how had she got from there to here?

Suddenly her eyes landed on her bra that was flung carelessly on top of the dresser. The memory of Jack's lips against hers as he effortlessly undid her bra caused a furious blush to burn across her cheeks. She'd slept with Jack.

"Oh God," she groaned quietly, slipping back down underneath the covers.

Sadly though, even the darkness of the bedclothes couldn't keep the memory of last night from filling her mind.

"_You alright Ron?" Jack asked as he entered the office carrying that night's takings. _

"_I'd be fine if it wasn't for these stupid shoes," she said, throwing her shoes across the room and pouting slightly. She glanced up to see Jack fighting to hide his smirk as he looked at her. "Don't look at me like that!"_

"_I'm just thinking that it's your own stupid fault for wearing shoes that high and fiddly. I mean they look like some form of torture device."_

"_Oh shut up," she said, standing up. "Do you think we wear them because we love for our feet to feel like they've been cut to shreds at the end of the night? No! We wear them because they makes us look good! Because they makes us look good for guys like you."_

_The words were out of her mouth before she had even realised what she'd said. _

"_I didn't mean…"_

_Whatever she was about to say completely vanished from her mind as Jack leant forward and captured her lips in a kiss. She stood there dumbfounded as he kissed her and a few seconds later, he pulled away._

"_You know when someone kisses you, it is polite to kiss them back," he laughed but she could see the hurt in his eyes. _

_It felt like she'd suddenly been torn in two. One part of her was screaming that this was all a huge mistake. He'd hurt her so many times before – Jesus he had a daughter with her sister – that it'd be pure stupidity to go there again. But the other part her was reminding her about how good they'd been together and how he'd been her rock after everything that happened. _

_And suddenly it was like she wasn't in her own body anymore. She leant forward and kissed him. It wasn't a passionate or lustful kiss – not they weren't experts at those. It was a soft and simple kiss, filled with love. It was the kind of kiss that washed away all the past mistakes – a clean slate. _

After that it was a blur of more kissing – definitely getting far more passionate with each one – and a blind rush to get back to Jack's. Ronnie could remember them ducking down behind Arthur's bench at one point when Peggy had come out to collect the empties. And then there'd been what had happened once they'd gotten inside. Ronnie bit her lip and blushed even more. Jack was the only guy who'd ever been able to make her feel like that – a soppy school girl.

Sighing, she stood up, wrapping the duvet around her, and shuffled in the direction of her discarded clothes from the night before. Pulling them on, for the first time since waking up, she wondered where Jack was. 'What if he thinks it's all a mistake?' a tiny voice in her head said and she contemplated that idea while she dressed. What if he was regretting last night and had gotten out of her way so she could leave with no embarrassment?

As that thought hit her, she felt an anger beginning to bubble up inside her. If he was regretting it and he wasn't man enough to tell her himself then screw him. She'd leave and not acknowledge him. Of course if he wasn't regretting it and was in fact just on the other side of that door, making breakfast, then he'd never know that she was in fact a tiny bit crazy.

Standing up, she made her way to the door and pulled it open.

And that was the moment her whole world crumbled all over again.

Roxy and Jack were stood in the middle of the living room, deep in a kiss. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and he had his hands resting lightly upon her hips.

It felt like she couldn't breathe. She was trying but as she stared at the sight of her sister and Jack, it was like she had completely forgotten how to. She wanted to say something, to shout or scream at them, but her entire body was simply giving up on her.

After what felt like an eternity, she managed to force her legs to begin to move and she began to walk in the direction of the front door.

At the sound of her heels hitting the wooden floor, Jack and Roxy pulled away and their expressions couldn't have been more different. Roxy shot her a look of pure and utter satisfaction while Jack looked completely shocked and devastated.

"Ronnie it's not what it looks like." Inside she burst out laughing. She had known that that would be the first thing that he would say. But on the outside she didn't react, just kept walking towards the door. "Ronnie!"

He grabbed her wrist and she automatically pulled it away, as if he had burned her. Inside she was screaming, slapping him and calling him every name under the sun. But she couldn't do that on the outside. Because if she reacted then she knew that it would only be a matter of seconds before her anger crumbled away into devastation. After losing Danielle she had believed that it was impossible to hurt anymore. But now, when she'd let her guard down just a little bit, she'd been burnt by the two people that she loved the most.

Stooping down, she grabbed her bag and made to open the door. But Jack was two steps ahead of her, like he always was, and had pressed himself against it, blocking her only exit.

"Just listen to me Ronnie. She kissed me and I wasn't thinking. I kissed her for a few seconds, that was it. She means nothing to me – you know that."

"Move Jack," she said as if he hadn't said a word.

"Ronnie I love you."

"Move."

"Please Ronnie."

"Jack. Move."

She didn't know whether it was due to her tone or him simply admitting defeat, but he moved aside, just for a split second, and she took her chance. Yanking the door open, she made her way down the hallway and opened the front door, her legs shaking beneath her. It was only a matter of time before she collapsed completely and she wanted to be as far away from here when that happened.

She wasn't even listening to whatever Jack was saying as she stepped outside into the square. It was all just a background murmur of desperate pleas and declarations of love. And maybe it would work if she could be bothered to listen. He'd find exactly the right words in the right order and she'd give him another chance. But he'd hurt her, like he did with Selina; like he did with Roxy. It was inevitable because that was what they did – they hurt each other.

A black cab was making its way around the square and she flagged it down.

"Ronnie don't go."

She didn't know why she did it but as the cab slowed to a stop in front of her, she turned to face him. She pressed her lips right up against his ear and felt him snake his arms around her waist, as if he could hold her tight enough to stop her leaving.

"I love you."

She wormed her way from his grasp and got into the cab, slamming the door.

"Euston please."

"Ronnie!" He was banging hard on the glass and as she stared at him, she could see tears forming in his eyes – something she didn't think she'd ever seen before. "Don't do this."

"Love…" the cab driver said, turning to her.

"Just go. Please."

Her voice was breaking now and all she wanted was to be away from here and the sound of Jack pleading with her to stay. If she listened for too much longer then she knew that she would get out of the cab and go to him. Let him talk her around. But right now she knew that she had to be away from him and the vicious cycle that they were stuck in. So she let the cab pull away from the kerb and drive off. She knew, without even turning her head, that Jack was chasing after it, still shouting and begging her to stay.

At the last moment, as the cab turned to exit the square, she glanced back, just for a second, and saw him stood in the middle of the street. He was wearing nothing but a pair of joggers and the look of devastation on his face was enough to make her heart ache.

And as he disappeared from view, she did the one thing that she'd hoped she'd never have to do again – she cried.

A/N: This idea has been buzzing around in my head for a while now and so I thought I'd finally take the effort to write it. I'm only planning for this to be a few chapters long but we'll see how it goes.

Please read and review.


	2. Five Years On

Five years later

"Amy Branning would you please come and sit down!" Roxy shouted down the train as her daughter continued to charge up and down the small and crowded carriage. The smiles that passengers had been giving Amy originally had now turned to looks of annoyance. "Jack will you say something to your daughter?"

"Oh she's my daughter now is she?" he asked, glancing up from his laptop.

"She is when she's like this."

Amy had given up running around but was now practising her latest ballet moves up at the top end of the carriage. She was spinning around frantically, causing the young woman next to her to give a worried look.

"Look at me daddy!" she shouted. "I'm a ballerina."

Jack sighed as he heard the tutting sounds of some of the passengers at his five-year old daughter's shrill voice.

"I'll go get her."

Standing up, he began to navigate his way through the overcrowded carriage. One of the other trains that was running to Devon that day had broken down and all its passengers had been moved onto their small train, meaning that the small carriage was stuffed to the seams.

"Do you like my dancing daddy?" Amy asked before squealing as Jack scooped her up in his arms.

"It's beautiful darling. But you've got to sit down now okay? This isn't a playground."

"Don't these people like my dancing daddy?"

"I'm sure they do sweetie but you're supposed to be quiet on a train. When we get to the hotel, then you can dance as much as you want. But for now can you please just sit down?"

He dropped her down on the seat next to Peggy before slipping back into his seat.

"I just wanted to dance Grandma," she pouted.

"Oh don't fall for her puppy eyes Aunty Peg," Roxy muttered, recognising her daughter's attempt to get what she wanted. "You will stay there for the rest of the journey Amy; otherwise we won't go to the beach when we get to the seaside."

"That's not fair!"

"Yeah well if you're not going to behave then you don't get a treat."

Amy let out a small shout of annoyance before throwing herself back in her seat. Roxy and Jack shared a look of amusement at their daughter's antics before turning back to what they'd been doing before her behaviour had just become too irritating.

Over the past few years they had built up a decent relationship, primarily for Amy's sake. They shared joint custody of her and always refrained from arguing in front of her. Their primary aim was to give her as regular an upbringing as they could manage. And it seemed to be working. In Amy's mind her family set up was completely and utterly normal.

* * *

"I'm bored grandma," Amy moaned as the train sped through the countryside.

"Why don't you do some colouring?" she asked, gesturing to the book that was lying open on the table, surrounded by the sweets that Amy was slowly making her way through.

"I don't want to colour. I want to go and play."

"Well you can't," Jack snapped, pulling himself away from his work again. "She gets her stubbornness from you," he said to Roxy.

"Oh yeah blame it on…" Roxy trailed off as her gaze turned away from her family and instead focused on the aisle. A young girl was loitering by the edge of their table. Her big blue eyes were focused on the array of food that lined the table and judging from her tiny frame, it looked like she hadn't had a proper meal in ages. Her arms were like tiny matchsticks and it was as if she could be blown away by the slightest breeze. Her straggly brown hair was tied up in two lanky plaits and with her baggy jumper and jeans, she looked like she could be an extra in Annie.

"Can we help you?" Roxy snapped.

The girl's eyes widened in alarm at Roxy and her bottom lip began to tremble.

"Hey are you okay?" She shook her head viciously as the tears began to well up in her eyes. "Did you have to make her cry Roxy?"

"I didn't mean to! But she was just standing there staring," she hissed.

"She looks like some urchin child. Don't you think you could be a bit nicer?" Jack hissed back.

"Don't snap at me Branning!"

The pair continued to hiss quietly at each other until Amy interrupted them.

"Did you want to come and sit down?" She shifted closer to Peggy and patted the seat next to her, giving the little girl a wide smile, displaying her two missing front teeth. "Come on, I won't bite. You can have some of my food."

At the mention of food, the little girl's face lit up and she darted into the small space that Amy had made for her, snatching the bag of Hula Hoops gratefully. As she stuffed them rapidly into her mouth, a strange expression passed over her face and she quickly swallowed the food.

"Sorry. Should have said thank you. Shouldn't just take food."

Her voice was quiet, a sharp contrast to Amy's dulcet tones, and a strong lisp was evident as she spoke.

"Don't worry about it sweetie," Peggy said, giving her a small smile. "You help yourself. It looks like she needs it," she added in a whisper to Roxy and Jack.

As the little girl devoured the food that was offered to her, Amy struck up a conversation with her, not at all fazed when the only responses she received were murmurs.

"Sweetie why don't you let her finish eating before you bombard her with questions?"

"Bombard?"

"I think you need to slow down a bit. Let her have some food and then you can talk okay?"

"Mum!" she moaned, poking her tongue out.

"Amy!" Roxy mimicked. "Can't you behave for more than five minutes?"

"Is your mum as bad as mine?" Amy asked. The little girl's face suddenly crumpled and the tears appeared in her eyes again. "What did I say?" she asked worriedly.

"Nothing Amy."

"My mummy's gone," the girl said.

"Gone? What d'ya mean gone?"

"Amy! Don't be rude!"

"What? I'm just asking!"

"When did our little girl suddenly become a teenager?" Roxy asked.

"I know. Amy there are some things you don't ask okay."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Just because."

"But why?"

Jack was about to respond when the young girl let out a small giggle.

"Your daddy's funny."

"I think he's silly," Amy said.

"Thank you," Jack said, ignoring his daughter. "I'm glad someone thinks I'm funny. I'm not often valued around here."

The little girl nodded, suddenly becoming shy again.

"What's your name?" Amy said, turning the attention back to her.

"Evie."

"What like E-V?"

"No," she giggled. "E-v-i-e."

"I've never heard that name before. Well I'm Amy. It means beloved." Evie nodded at her, unsure of what to say. "What does your name mean?"

"I d'know"

"Haven't you learnt about names in school yet?"

"I don't go."

"You don't go to school?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"I was going. But then…"

She trailed off, the look of upset reappeared on her face.

"I go to school. It's great. Aunty Tanya walks Oscar and me every morning and I get to have pizza for lunch. And my teacher Mrs Johnson lets us paint everyday."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Do you like to paint?"

"I'm not allowed."

"Not allowed?"

"No. I make too much mess."

"Oh."

Amy was about to say something else when a shadow appeared over the table. A tall woman with a face like thunder was stood with her arms crossed. The moment Evie saw her, a fearful expression covered her face.

"There you are. How dare you run away from me like that you little brat. And coming and imposing on these strangers." Her eyes landed on the food that littered the table. "And eating their food! You cheeky madam. What have you been telling them?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't you lie to me!"

She grabbed hold of her arm and began to pull her up.

'"Get off! You're hurting her."

"It's none of your business! Now come on you stupid girl."

She tightened her grip on the wrist and began to pull her down the carriage, ignoring her shouts and cries. Roxy, Jack, Peggy and Amy stared on in despair as Evie was dragged down the carriage, crying and screaming.

Suddenly the pair of them stopped and the woman turned to Evie, raised her hand and struck her across the face.

"You can't do that!" one of the other passengers exclaimed.

"Oh shut up you old bag! Now come on."

Evie was now howling in pain as her one free hand clutched desperately at her red cheek.

"Evelyn Olivia Branning you will shut up right now!"

And with that the two disappeared from the carriage, the young girl's cries still echoing down the train.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I didn't bother to update this story because I don't actually watch Eastenders anymore or like Jack and Ronnie as a couple (though I did love them for a long time). But I was clearing out some documents on my computer and found the next two chapters for this story. Plus Aaliyah72 left me a review today. So I decided to post the chapters I have written and then one or two more to conclude the story. **

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. And I do promise that even though I don't like Jack and Ronnie anymore, I will write them how I intended to write them. **

After the disappearance of Evie, the train journey had become far less eventful. Amy had fallen into a sulk after the loss of her friend while the three adults had spent some time gossiping over the scene that had unfolded before resuming their previous activities. When they had gotten off the train, they had kept an eye out for any sign of Evie and at one point Amy had been sure she'd seen her. But when she had looked again, there was no sign of her anywhere. And by the time they reached their hotel, the young girl had become little more than a memory.

"Okay that's a single room and a family room for a week," the receptionist confirmed as she glanced at the booking on the screen.

"What?" Roxy and Jack exclaimed at the same time.

"Is there a problem?"

"We asked for two singles and a twin room."

"Ah. Well there's no sign of that. Oh hold on, yes there's a note here. We unfortunately had some double bookings so we had to change one of your singles and twin to a family room. It seems my colleague assumed that it wouldn't be a problem."

"Well it is."

"We're not together," Roxy protested, gesturing to her and Jack.

"Oh. Well I'm sorry but all the rooms are taken for the next two nights. After that there is a spare twin room that's opening up, 416, and I can book that for you now. But until then, there's nothing I can do. I am very sorry. Maybe you could alternate the rooms you have."

"We booked specific rooms and we should be given them."

"I am sorry. The most I can do is offer you these two nights for free. Would that be any better?"

"Well it'll have to do won't it? Look maybe you two and Amy could share the family room and I'll take the single. Then I can move into the twin when it becomes free and you can have the single as planned Peggy," Jack said.

"I guess we don't have another choice."

There would have been a time when Roxy would have used an opportunity like this to have propositioned Jack and make her move. But when Ronnie had left Walford all those years ago, Jack had very clearly knocked her back, blaming her for her sister's departure. So now their relationship was purely platonic. To begin with it had been immensely strained. But over the past couple years, as Amy had become more aware of everything that was going on, they had started to actually get on. They could now stand to attend parent's evenings together – hell they were on holiday as a family.

Roxy pulled herself from her thoughts to focus on what Jack was saying.

"Right so I'll go in the single and you three can share the family room."

"I am really sorry about this," the receptionist said, apologising for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Don't worry about it," Roxy said. "You weren't the one who made the changes."

The receptionist shot her a warm smile before handing them the keys.

"I hope you enjoy your stay. And we do apologise for the inconvenience."

"Right that's us all unpacked," Peggy said, glancing around the small hotel room.

"Finally," Jack muttered from his position on the bed before rolling his eyes.

"You're one person Jack."

"And I'm a man. I don't bring fifty different outfits."

"I don't have fifty outfits! I brought enough to last me the week. Now stop moaning and go and get Amy."

"Where is she?" Jack asked, suddenly noticing his daughter's absence.

"I told her to go out in the hallway for a bit because her moaning about when we were going to the beach was just becoming an irritation."

"Alright I'll go get her. It should cheer her up to know we're finally going to the beach."

"It is the only thing she's been talking about these past few weeks."

The three laughed and Jack forced himself up of the double bed and opened the hotel room door, expecting to see Amy sat outside in a sulk. However the hallway was completely deserted.

"She's gone."

"What?" Roxy said, her voice suddenly panicked. She barged past Jack and glanced frantically down both sides of the hall as if her daughter had simply blended into the walls. "Where is she?"

"Roxy calm down. She can't have gone far."

"But what if she has?"

"Roxy I'll go and find her. You and Peggy stay here in case she comes back."

"No I'm coming with you! Aunty Peg can you stay here and keep an eye out for her?"

"Yeah of course. And Roxy don't worry. She won't have gone far. Knowing her, she's gone to find somewhere to practice her ballet. She's not silly enough to wander too far."

"I hope so. Jack come on."

"Amy! Amy Branning! Where are you?"

"Amy this isn't funny. Come out here now!"

The pair had been wandering around the hotel for the past ten minutes, searching high and low for any sign of their daughter. But it appeared as if she had completely vanished.

"Where is she Jack?" Roxy said, turning to him, her eyes filling with tears.

"We'll find her Roxy."

At the expression on Roxy's face, he couldn't help but remember when Sean had kidnapped Amy all those years ago. They had never told her about the incident, or anything to do with those problematic months that surrounded it, but it had always made Roxy overly protective of her daughter. Neither had ever forgotten it and he knew that every horrific scenario possible was currently running through Roxy's head.

Just as he was about to reassure her once more, the sound of laughter filled the hall.

"Run Evie! Run!"

The two turned around the hall to see the two girls running full pelt down the long hallway. Amy was the first to notice her parents stood at the end of the hall and she rapidly skidded to a halt. But Evie kept running, her peals of laughter ringing down the corridor, and she crashed into Jack.

"Oof," she squealed, collapsing at his feet.

When she glanced up at saw Jack, she quickly stood up and stuttered out an apology.

"Don't worry about it," he said, shooting her a smile before turning his attention to his daughter. "What have we told you about running off Amy?"

"I was bored. Evie came and we started playing. She stays here all the time so she's great at hiding. I'm sorry."

She gave her parents her most adorable look, shooting them the puppy eyes and the pouty lip.

"Just don't do it again Amy. Now come on, we're going to the beach."

"Yay! Oh but can Evie come? Please," she begged.

"Won't your mum wonder where you are?" Roxy asked Evie who was standing quietly in the corner, thinking of the woman from the train earlier.

"She's not my mum."

Evie's tone sounded far too harsh for a girl of her age and height.

"Please can she come mum? What's she supposed to do here? It's boring!"

"Yeah of course she can," Jack said interjecting. "Do you have a swimming costume Evie?"

"No," she said, her bottom lip trembling.

"Hey don't cry." He dropped down next to her and wiped away her tears. "You can borrow one of Amy's." But when he glanced at her tiny frame in contrast to his daughter's frame he changed tact. "Or one of her old t-shirts. I'm sure Roxy here has packed enough for you to borrow one. Then you can go in the ocean with my crazy daughter over there. How does that sound?"

"Thank you sir."

"Call me Jack. And I have to look out for someone else with my name." She gave him a confused look. "You're Branning and so am I. There aren't many of us around so I can't just abandon you."

"I'm Branning!"

"You're my daughter Amy."

"So?"

"So you have to be a Branning."

"Oh."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the previous chapter. I normally reply to all reviews but my laptop has a large crack in the trackpad so it's hard to control it. But I really appreciate it.**

**I'm about to take my laptop in to Apple to be repaired so I won't have a computer for the next 5 days or so. I'll be planning the next chapter but it means no posting/writing. **

"It's the sea dad!"

"I can see it Amy. The same way I saw it when you first shouted that it was the sea."

"But it's the sea!"

"Amy STOP!" Roxy shrieked as her daughter hurtled in the direction of the sea, which just happened to involve crossing a busy road. "You never cross the road without me or your dad. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Sorry mum."

"Just don't do it again okay? I know you're excited about the sea honey but just be careful."

"Okay. Now can we go to the beach?"

Roxy shook her head and grabbed hold of her daughter's hand and waited for Jack and Evie to catch up. Peggy had chosen to avoid the beach, instead having decided to wander off to explore the town. Of course Roxy and Jack both knew that that meant she was going to try and fit in as much shopping and drinking as possible. Jack was walking along with Evie who he was chatting away to. He had also been given the unfortunate job of carrying all the stuff to the beach.

"Why am I the only one carrying anything here?"

"Because we love you dad."

"Yeah I'm feeling loved right now."

The small group made their way across the road, ignoring Jack's mumblings, and onto the busy beach.

"Right first person to find a spot gets an ice-cream," Jack shouted, causing the two young girls to go racing along the sand.

"It's nice that Amy's got someone to keep her company here. I don't think I could cope with being the one who has to be chasing her around," Roxy laughed.

"Yeah well when you're pushing 40…"

"I am not pushing 40," she yelled, whacking him on the arm.

Any potential argument was diverted by the sight of Amy and Evie leaping up and down on the sand, waving their arms about.

"We found a spot!"

"Come on then. The girls have actually got a use."

"Dad I want to go in the sea!"

"Will you be quiet for one moment Amy? You can't go into the sea fully dressed; you need to put your costume on. This is why your mum told you to put your costume on under your clothes."

"But that is uncomfortable."

"Which is why you have to get changed now. And you and Evie aren't going in there alone."

"I'm nearly 6!"

"Exactly! That's not old enough."

"Dad!"

"Amy!" he mimicked. "Go and get your costume from your mum and she'll help you put it on."

As his daughter wandered off over to Roxy, he turned his attention to Evie who was hovering hesitantly to his right.

"What's wrong Evie?" She didn't say anything. Instead she bit her lip and stared at the sand. "You can tell me."

"I not been in the sea before."

"Aw don't worry about that," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Tell you what. We'll put you in the t-shirt Roxy brought and you and me can just go paddling. How about that?"

"Okay," she said hesitantly.

"If you want to get out then we'll come back here okay. We can get started on the picnic early without those two."

She let out a small laugh and Jack gave her a small smile. He grabbed the t-shirt and pulled off her thick, baggy jumper that she was wearing. And as he did so, the reasons behind her baggy clothes suddenly became clear to him. Her chest was covered in an array of bruises, ranging from fresh reddish ones to older brown ones. It appeared as if there was not a single area of her chest that was not coloured by some bruise – her skin was a patch work of beatings. As well as that, her frail frame was even more obvious. Her ribs were clearly visible through her paper thing skin and her collarbones jutted out above her stick thin arms.

Jack desperately struggled not to wince as he stared at the girl's body.

"Evie. Where did you get these bruises from?" he asked hesitantly, tentatively stroking a dark blue bruise just above her belly button.

"I'm a bad girl," she muttered.

"What?" he asked, shocked at hearing a girl as young as her saying such a phrase. But instead of responding, she began to viciously rub at a faint brown bruise on her shoulder. "Evie. Who gave you those bruises?"

He desperately tried to quell the anger in his tone and he fought the urge to grab her and shake her out of her daze. His dealings with abused women back in the police force had taught him that anger wasn't the answer. But to see a young girl like Evie covered in bruises and blaming herself, who the hell would do that to her?

"Elinor," she eventually mumbled, still rubbing at the bruise.

"Is Elinor the woman from the train?"

"Yeah. She says I'm a bad girl. God tells her to punish me."

"What?" he asked, his voice strained as he clenched his fists.

"I'm a bad child, born in sin, and she has to punish me. I'm naughty and I should be better."

"Evie listen to me. Evie!" he snapped, causing her to look up. "You are not naughty and you don't deserve to be punished."

"I am."

"No you're not." He let out a sigh of frustration before grabbing her jumper. "We're going to sort this out," he said. He helped her back into her jumper, taking a last glance at the bruises that lined her young body.

"Daddy lets go in the sea!" Amy suddenly squealed, running over from Roxy, and jumped onto Jack's back. "Come on daddy."

Jack forced himself to stand up and he spun her around before beckoning Roxy over.

"Can you take her?" he said, lowering Amy down onto the sand.

"Aren't you coming dad? And why isn't Evie changed yet?"

"Look honey. I've got to go back and sort something out with Evie okay? But I promise that I'll bring you to the beach tomorrow and we'll go swimming. I'll even buy you that pink rubber ring you wanted. But right now I've got something really important to do. Can you understand that?"

"I guess," she said, her voice breaking slightly. She stood for a moment longer before trudging off to the other end of their spot, her shoulders slumped.

"What the hell is going on Jack?" Roxy snapped. "Are you trying to ruin her holiday?"

"Look at this." He pulled up part of Evie's jumper, displaying just a fraction of the bruises that covered her body. "That is what I need to sort out," he hissed as Roxy gasped.

"Oh my god. Go. I'll make up something for Amy."

"So she won't hate me?"

"Exactly."

* * *

"Jack…" Evie said, dragging her feet along the skirting board of the lift.

"What is it?"

"I'm just worried about what Elinor's going to do. She's always said that if I ever told anyone then I'd regret it."

Jack dropped down to her level and held her hand.

"Well did you tell me about your bruises?"

"No," she said hesitantly.

"Exactly. You didn't break the rules did you."

"No?"

"No you didn't. And I'll make sure she won't do anything."

"Promise?" she asked, staring at him with her huge blue eyes.

"I promise Evie."

As he stood back up and the lift pinged to announce its arrival on the fourth floor, Jack couldn't help but wonder over his protectiveness of Evie. He hadn't even known her a day and yet he couldn't fight his urge to look out for her.

Jack knocked on the door of room 416, forcing himself to keep his anger in check as he waited for Elinor to appear. He could feel Evie clenching his hand tightly, and she was almost trembling by the time the sound of footsteps was audible.

The door flung open to show the same woman from the train. She was a butch woman, her height almost matching Jack's. Her broad frame seemed to fill the entire entrance and even Jack felt his confidence slip slightly. Her face was red with annoyance and she looked immensely displeased to see Jack stood in her doorway. Then her eyes flicked to Evie who was hovering behind him.

"Oh you're back are you? Did you think I wouldn't notice you running off? Get inside!"

She made to grab Evie's arm but Jack stepped between the pair.

"I think you're been manhandling her far too much from what I've seen."

"And what business is that of yours?"

"I'm making it my business. And I want to talk to you."

Gathering his strength, he barged past Elinor, keeping a tight hold of Evie's hand. The curtains of the hotel room were drawn shut and some soppy movie was on pause. Clothes were scattered across the room and the only evidence of Evie's existence was a small collection of toys in the far corner.

"You can just get out now. whoever the hell you are. This is between me and that little brat. So go poke your nose elsewhere."

"You are joking! How could you treat one of your family like this?"

Elinor let out a noise that sounded like a mix between a snort and a choked laugh.

"Family? That is no relation of mine!" she said, jabbing her finger at Evie. "I just got the unfortunate job of having her offloaded on me."

"And you treat her like that? Have you seen the state of her? How could you beat her like that?"

"She deserves it! She's a little brat and it's the only way to teach her everything. Humans are born in sin and she's even worse with her tart of a mother. A single mum, knocked up out of wedlock."

"And that gives you the right to beat her. She's a child. I don't even know why I'm here. I should be reporting you to the cops."

"Oh you know what, I can't be doing with this. You want to deal with her then you can have her. I was only supposed to be looking after her for two bloody weeks but now it's turned into months. I have to trek up her every week so she can see that stupid mother of hers. And I ain't doing it anymore."

Jack stared at her confusedly as she continued to rant over her annoyance about caring for Evie. She stormed over to the corner of the room and began throwing things at Jack.

"Here's her clothes and her toys. And that stupid rabbit that she can't sleep without because she acts like she's two." She continued to throw things in their direction, swearing and shouting as she did so. "I've had to put up with this spoilt little brat for too long and what do I get for it? Nothing. I get jumped up pricks like you coming and attacking me. Well you can try looking after her and you can find that the only way to control her is to slap some sense into her."

With that she stormed out, slamming the hotel room door behind her, causing the room to descend into silence.

Jack stared around the bombshell of the room in a daze, trying to process what had just happened. The confrontation he had planned had somehow ended with him being handed the care of a child he barely knew. How the hell had that happened?

Dropping down onto the bed, he placed his head in his hands and let out a small groan. What was he supposed to do now?

"Jack are you okay?" Evie asked, grabbing a hold of his hand with her tiny one.

"Yeah," he managed to mutter, sitting up to look at her.

"Okay there has to be something here that can help us," he said, his police brain kicking in. "You just sit right here." He scooped Evie up and dropped her onto the bed before beginning to route around through the collection of things around the room. "There has to be some clue."

"What 'bout Jack?"

Jack hesitated. How could he tell her that he was trying to offload her on someone? Being beaten the way she had been must have done her some form of damage. And if he told her he was trying to get rid of her as quickly as possible then…well he would bet anything that her face would crumple all over again.

"Why don't you get your things gathered up?"

"Okay."

She shimmied off the bed and began to neatly fold her clothes in a manner that was not at all normal for a four year old like her.

Jack sighed before continuing the search for any clue as to where this elusive mother was, or any family at all. There had to be someone who could care for her. He couldn't possibly take in a girl that he barely knew.

"Evie. Do you know if Elinor brought any papers with her?"

"Papers? I can't draw. Not allowed."

"No like… It doesn't matter."

"Maybe in there," she said, pointing to the bedside table. "She told me that I can't go in there."

"Thanks Evie. You keep packing. We're going to move your stuff over to our rooms tonight and we can sort everything out tomorrow okay?"

"Okay," she said brightly.

She seemed unaware of exactly what had happened. To her, she was free of Elinor and was going on something of an adventure. If only it was all that simple.

Opening the drawer, he winced at the variety of things in there that he definitely didn't want to see. But alongside the array of kinky and frankly disturbing items, there was a manilla folder labelled private. Removing it from the drawer, he flicked it open and pulled out the first few sheets of paper.

They were simply records of reservations for trains and hotel rooms over the next few weeks – all for this hotel and for trains from Reading to here and back again. The next bundle was no more useful, a series of correspondences with a David Sutcliffe. But then something caught his eye. In contrast to the standard black typed font of the rest of the pages, one was headed with cursive red text – CERTIFIED COPY OF AN ENTRY OF BIRTH.

He placed the rest of the folder down beside him and examined the thin yellow paper in his hand. But as he read over the words, any hope he had was replaced with pure and utter disbelief. It was as if he was hallucinating what he was reading.

_Born - 19__th__ December 2009, Leeds General Infirmary Hospital. _

_Name - Evelyn Olivia Branning. _

_Sex - Female. _

_Name and surname of father - Jack Branning. _

_Name, surname and maiden surname of mother - Veronica Mitchell. _

_Occupation of father – Businessman. _

_Signature, description and residence of informant – , Mother, 14 Callows Street, Leeds_

_When registered – 23__rd__ December 2009_


End file.
